DEER KIND. 313 



served at the hazard of her own. The calf, for 

 so the young of this animal is called, never quits 

 the dam during the whole summer; and in 

 winter, the hind, and all the males under a year 

 old, keep together, and assemble in herds, which 

 are more numerous in proportion as the season is 

 more severe. In the spring they separate ; the 

 hinds to bring forth, while none but the year olds 

 remain together : these animals are, however, in 

 general fond of herding and grazing in company ; 

 it is danger or necessity alone that separates them. 



The dangers they have to fear from other ani- 

 mals, are nothing when compared to those from 

 man. The men of every age and nation have 

 made the chase of the stag one of their most 

 favourite pursuits; and those who first hunted 

 from necessity have continued it for amusement. 

 In our own country, in particular, hunting was 

 ever esteemed as one of the principal diversions 

 of the great.* At first, indeed, the beasts of 

 chase had the whole island for their range, and 

 knew no other limits than those of the ocean. 



The Roman jurisprudence, which was formed 

 on the manners of the first ages, established it as 

 a law, that, as the natural right of things which 

 have no master belongs to the first possessor, wild 

 beasts, birds, and fishes, are the property of who- 

 soever could first take them. But the northern 

 barbarians, who overran the Roman empire, bring- 

 ing with them the strongest relish for this amuse- 

 ment, and being now possessed of more easy 



* British Zoology. 



